Roadshow Rendezvous

Hello!

Today I have written up my experience at the Antique Roadshow filming, last week. One could not help but feel the excitement and anticipation surrounding Wightwick Manor on the morning of the taping. I live near the manor and noticed that from eight o'clock  there were alot of coaches arriving and the car park was beginning to fill up. The excitement in the air was palpable.  I apprehensively acquiesced to my Mom's request to the take the dogs with us. They are generally very vocal dogs and especially delight in barking at toddlers. Luckily Bertie and Seth were very well behaved and kept quiet during the filming. They may even feature in the show! I will have to look out for them because the camera did pan down to them. Bertie, in the typical poser manner he inhabits, as soon as he got any sort of attention from the cameras, rolled onto his back with this legs in the air and started to wag his tail.

The impressive roadshow tour bus, I wonder if they have any treasures in their? 

The cameras were very impressive and I really enjoyed getting to see first hand how the show is filmed. I just felt very sorry for the experts, who though all looked impeccable, due to the blistering sun, must have been rather uncomfortable. I especially enjoyed listening to the military paraphernalia expert who was very enthusiastic and engaging. My favourite tables were the ones dedicated to teddys and dolls, the association with childhood's now gone is rather poignant and fascinating. Additionally, being a massive bookworm I was of course inquisitive about the books. I wanted to ask how much they would be prepared to sell them for, them remebered this was not Flog It! It was heartwarming to hear stories of the significance of, for example, a beautiful ring that had been passed down through generations, and hear the affection the new guardian of it had for it. I thought it was a romantic notion.

 Had lunch at the newly open tearoom, which was originally the stables, and architectural details of its prior use can still be observed. The space is much better than the original tearoom, that whilst quaint, was not sufficient for the numbers of visitors the manor receives. The new tea rooms are airy and spacious and utilitarian in contrast to the house. The aesthetic of the room though in contrast to the manor,is for the benefit of the property. The tearoom has pictures on the wall of  the Mander paint company advertisements and the paint making factory itself. To highlight where the wealth of the family came from, the Mander's were not aristocratic people who inherited their wealth but were wealthy industrialists, whose paint adorned number 10 Downing Street among other addresses. Volunteering at Wightwick Manor at the moment is especially exciting due to the greater visibility of the property due to the media interest over the past year and due to the investment in the property, from the snazzy new visitor centre and bigger car park and the new tea room. I'm sure if Geoffrey Mander was able to see the changes he would be very pleased at the properties continued popularity and beauty.

What a beautiful setting for the show, with the majestic manor as the backdrop, the sun shining and the gardens in bloom one could hardly think of a more suitable location for the programme.

Due to the weather, and, in homage to the cacophony of colour to be found in the flower beds, I chose this lightweight forties dress which has a red, green and blue flower pattern. I have noticed in alot of the pictures of me on this website that I give the impression I never wear shoes.  In fact I had just taken my shoes off before this picture was taken, I desperately hot and my oddly shaped feet, which at this point even the chiropodist has given up on, were hurting after walking round for a long time. It annoys me that when shopping for vintage I can never find shoes, I own pairs of reproduction shoes, taken from twenties, thirties and fourties designs but it breaks my heart when I see original thirties shoes that I know my clodhopping size 7 feet will never fit into.

I am also wearing my thirties sunglasses, mentioned in a previous post. I had been wanting a pair for ages after seeing that iconic image of Marlene Dietrich and after weeks fruitlessly hunting I found a beautiful pair on etsy. 

Actress Marlene Dietrich Eating at the Paramount Commissary Wearing Sunglasses by Alfred Eisenstaedt.

I just realised how unflattering it is to include an image of myself and Marlene in close proximity, ah well, it was just to show the influence her style frequently has on mine.

Finally, after all the hullabaloo of  the roadshow we decided to go for a walk round the acres of grounds. It must have been the perfect place for the Mander children to play hide and seek and the elegant garden parties that would have been hosted there must have been divine!

Anyway, ciao for now! 

Now for an aside- Did I really just say ciao for now, maybe I should delete in from the post, no I will leave my corny signing off sentiment in.

Evalily Harlow xxx

Sunbathing Sausages and Procrastination

Greetings and salutations!

 I will upload the pictures from the Antiques Roadshow visit to Wightwick Manor soon, suffice to say that we had a delightful time. I managed to speak to a few of the experts, they were all really friendly. Despite the  fact that they were wearing three piece suits in the sweltering sun, they all  looked very elegant. One of the experts, was wearing a pair of quirky and funky purple chords and had a very dashing handlebar mustache! There were some beautiful pocket watches, loved teddy bears, accomplished paintings, first edition books and an amazing Titanic display, but I am preempting myself, I will do a long post tomorrow about the experience. Today, I spent this morning reading a biography of Clara Bow, a thoughtful birthday present. I had not realised the extent of the harrowing experiences she endured and her ability to overcome her tumultuous poverty stricken childhood and  become an exceptional actress, only made me appreciate her more. After distracting myself with reading for a few hours, I spent the rest of the afternoon persevering with my research proposal for my masters. In between trying to keep myself motivated I got distracted by the dogs who had waddled out to join me in the sun. I saw that they were squinting in the sunlight so I ingeniously (not really) decided to see what they looked like in my recently purchased 1930s sunglasses, inevitably hilarity ensued! 

 

Yours from a sun lounger,

Evalily Harlow xxx

Volunteering with Vigour

Greetings!

Sorry I have been having some problems with the photographs taken on my birthday, so I will endeavour to upload these pictures in the next few days.

Yesterday I had an amazing time volunteering. I had some really great in depth conversations about the Pre-Raphaelites, being a History of Art student I was in my element! In fact the glorious sunshine over the past few days have filled me with a new sense of vitality and vigour. The sunshine was streaming through the stained glass windows,the great parlour looked  stunning and the whole house looked spectacular, and I especially love the shadows created. I even took a walk through  the gardens on my way home, instead of only seeing them fleetingly when I run through the torrential rain to the house. The manicured lawns, the regimented regalia of the  flowerbeds and the walks through the wood are truly a peaceful and inspiring sight. Additionally, the occasional hidden nooks in the hedges, containing benches, seem, in my romantic mind, to be the perfect place for a romantic tryst or a perfect place to lounge around undisturbed and immerse oneself in a book.  Not only has the sun enlivened both me and the house but also, on Sunday,  melodious music was flooding the house. No, unfortunately the music resonating from the piano was not due to my talent as a pianist, a skill which I have always coveted but have never succeeded in, due to my uncooperative fingers, a professional pianist  had been invited to play. Last year, around Christmas time, when the pianist was playing festive music, and I was volunteering in the great parlour, an old couple began to waltz around the room, it was so nice I had half a mind to start dancing myself, but reigned in my eccentric tendencies! The purpose of the great parlour was for social gatherings, it was used as an entertaining space for the Mander family's distinguished guests, the floor itself  is actually sprung for dancing, so they embodied the spirit of the room.

As the weather was nice I decided to wear one of my recently purchased summer dresses I was induced to buy it due to the variety of colours and the pattern from a vintage shop in Ludlow. It's a beautiful forties dress, that can be worn in two different ways, two dresses in one, how clever! Apologies for the lack of shoes, I took these photos when I had just returned from volunteering and had been wearing my new tbar shoes that had been rubbing my feet.

I'm still getting used to posing, as I have always been rather self conscious. I like how Bertie has managed to have eye contact with the viewer but I'm looking away. I'm being upstaged and outclassed by a dog! By the way, that's my sister cat TC in the background, looking ready to pounce  he is the perfect assassin and unfortunately leaves us daily presents of mice, birds and the occasional frog!

          Volunteering whilst fruitful can also be tiring! 

Evalily Harlow xxx

p.s. I nearly forgot to mention, I'm so excited, the Antiques Roadshow will be coming to Wightwick on Thursday! I will try and take some pictures.

Volunteering

Hello!
Yesterday I did my weekly volunteering for the National Trust and wore one of my favourite dresses, a colourful floral forties concoction. The dress always puts me in an optimistic, somewhat patriotic and summery mood, I just wish the weather would cooperate!

I have included close ups photos of the dress so that you can see the beauty of the details of the dress.

One of the things I love about the dress are the three buttons in varying shades of blue, a great quirky embellishment.

 The pleats are also a great added detail and really give the dress a lovely shape.

I always look forward to Sundays. I feel very fortunate to get to spend a lot of time at Wightwick Manor, as there are so many things to see that I am always discovering something new to fascinate me. This week I was volunteering in the Pomegranate passage where there are these incredibly interesting and I would argue quite bewitching  photographs (reproductions) of Jane Morris taken in 1865, posed by Dante Gabriel Rossetti and photographed by John R. Parsons. Rossetti often used Jane as a model and these photographs were used as studies for his paintings. The use of chiaroscuro, the fall of light within the photograph, the dignity of the sitter, her magnificent dress,  nonchalant posture and bone structure create an exquisite photograph. Jane's presence is so bewitching that I believe, when looking at the photographs, one can observe the passion Rossetti had for Jane, her enticing presence. Her eyes almost have the expression of longing, she looks out of the frame at something we cannot see, a mysterious presence, perhaps that of Rossetti. Unfortunately Wightwick Manor do not allow visitors to take photographs of the interior, unless they specially request it, so I implore people to visit the manor themselves to see them and many other treasures. I have found a few of the images on the V&A website though.


  


http://www.vandaprints.com/image/678950/jane-morris-photo-john-r-parsons
http://www.vandaprints.com/image/337585/jane-morris-photo-dante-gabriel-rossetti


One of the visitors commented on the likeness of the photographs to those of the female British photographer, Julia Margaret Cameron, whom I had heard of  but knew little about. I have since looked at her photographs and one can observe great similarities. I especially love her depiction of Julia Prinsep Jackson, later Julia Stephen, Virginia Woolf's mother, who has such an arresting gaze in the photograph.




http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw84720/Julia-Prinsep-Stephen-ne-Jackson-formerly-Mrs-Duckworth


 A gaze which coincidentally I have observed before in a drawing of Julia Stephen which can be found at Wightwick Manor.





http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/1288001


 I love when I get into discussions with visitors because I feel that not only am I able to impart my knowledge of the collection to them but I also learn so much from the knowledge they provide me with.


Finally, to end this post, I just wanted to say that I intend to post weekly blog posts about my volunteering outfits. I marvel every week at  how many varying reactions I get from visitors due to my appearance. Generally what I love is getting the chance to talk to the visitors about Wightwick Manor and share in their awe and interest, but I also find it curious to see how people react to me. I have had people chuckling at some of my more unconventional outfits. I occasionally get compliments and also some nonplussed looks. The strangest encounter I have ever had with a visitor happened recently. I was volunteering in one of the guest bedrooms and I had not seen the visitor walking into the room yet so I was standing in profile looking out of the window. I felt her presence, within the room turned to greet her, at which point she shrieked and clutched her chest. I then hastily apologised and found out that she had mistook me for some sort of mannequin! I spent the rest of the afternoon feeling guilty but also trying not to laugh at the strange encounter.


I will post in the next few days about my birthday trip to Dudmaston Hall and the soggy sandwiches!

Yours,
 Evalily Harlow xxx

Gallivanting around Ludlow

Hi, I promised I would post again in the next couple of days so, as promised, here is my new entry. I still have quite a few posts still to go till I'm up to date, but I decided to begin with Ludlow, an idyllic market town which I know I have bought up before in a previous post, and I love going there when I have the time, it is over an hour away so its quite a jaunt. I have found many beautiful vintage pieces there, and will showcase more of them in the future. I go there often, mesmerised by the architecture, the castle and church are especially awe inspiring. Furthermore I enjoy wandering into the various quirky shops, cafes and of course the treasures in Pepper Lane vintage shop. After finishing my exams I decided that the perfect way to de-stress would be to take a trip to this beautiful old town, if you squint your eyes slightly and ignore the sounds of cars one can fantasise and day dream about being in an earlier era. I have spent time just staring up wondering and imagining how these shops would have looked in previous eras and the hats and outfits that would have been seen on the cobbled streets. 

 I am wearing a vintage inspired dress and cardigan from Laura Ashley.

 Even though it's the summer I'm still wearing wool tights, oh the British weather! The musician was very talented and had quite a crowd around him at one point.

De Grey's is a beautiful cafe and bed and breakfast, I couldn't resist indulging in their desserts.

I have no idea why but there were quite a few men walking around Ludlow wearing such extravagant outfits, and I wished I would have asked one of them.

.

All of the pictures in this post were taken by my talented sister, an aspiring photographer, who will be studying photography at university in September.

Evalily Harlow xxx

Apologies and Going out

Hello readers (by that I'm making the assumption that anyone has the inclination to read my musings),

I would first like to apologise for not updating this blog in 6 months! I can't believe it has been so long. The only excuse I can offer is that I have had a rather stressful time with completing my final year of my degree and spent alot of my time sitting in a corner of the library, reading intimidatingly large piles of books, writing and rewriting my dissertation and other essays. All whilst repeating the mantra, in my head, not out loud or I really would have looked deranged, that it was going to be alright, that I was intelligent enough and working hard enough to do well. Now that I have finished my studies for the summer, before I being an MRes, which although I know will be stressful, I know will be incredibly enriching and enjoyable. Anyway, I will be blogging frequently from now on, fingers crossed, and will include details and outfits of the various exploits I have undertaken recently and will be undertaking shortly, including my graduation ceremony, which is happening next week, the exquisite dresses I have recently bought, including the original twenties dress I wore to a graduation party, a trip to the historic and picturesque town of Ludlow and the exploits I got up to in London. 

Now that I have got my excuses out of the way and tried to provide enticing details of future posts, I have decided to post today about my experiences of going out for the evening in the modern world, which although great to catch up with friends and dance can sometimes leave me feeling bereft of any glamour or enthusiasm by the time the evening is over.

I headed into Birmingham with a few dear friends, where we frequented a club, not my natural habitat I must admit, I gave the vintage clothes a night off as have had experience of numskulls spilling beer all down the back of my beautiful dresses.

I had a nice night, I indulged in some alcohol hoping it would make me less self concious about my lack of dancing ability (I hope some day to take some dance lessons, but not in the kind of dancing that would be useful in a club anyway). There was a large room with a packed dance floor, low level lighting and music with a thumping baseline/ However to my surprise and utter delight there was a smaller more intimate room which played some great 1950's and 1960's music. I am always struck when frequenting these places about the lack of glamour of the venues, usually the floor is covered in many unknown substances, broken glasses, and the occasional abandoned shoe.

When confronted with all of this one cannot but yearn for a much more beautiful and refined evening party. I wonder sometimes why I feel so at odds with many of my generation.I fantasise about being invited to Jay Gatsby's party, or heading to a party in the 1920's à la Midnight in Paris, in there elaborate costumes. Oh the glamour! Imagining myself being a part of such an event, my senses engulfed in the cloud of smoke, the glamorous haze and exuberant boldness of the guests, the careless abandon and frivolity. I realise that I am romanticising, but allow me my day dreams!


Before the evening out had began I turned on La conga blicoti by Josephine Baker, turned off all the lights in my room and danced imagining I had even a small part of the dancing ability, beauty and poise of Josephine, and completely failing. A person whom I knew about but learnt alot more when we studied her in one of my modules about The Body Politic, and will be blogging about her in future.


As this blog entry would be pretty empty without an outfit post, here is a picture of the dress I wore for my birthday, at a beautiful Italian restaurant with my friends. I am wearing a Marks and Spencer slip, the detailing of it giving an ode to the past, and a beautiful but very delicate lace dress, that made me feel like I was channelling the mysterious twenties vamp, Theda Bara ( I wish!).

All this talk of 1920's and 1930's glamour has me reaching for the remote control, I'm going to spend the evening immersed in the opulent surroundings of twenties London with Agatha, Nina and the exuberant Miles.


Evalily Harlow xxx


p.s. I know that the quality of the images so far have not been great as they have mostly been taken on my phone, and most have been taken in the rather boring surroundings of my hall, but the photos on my next post, which I will upload in the next couple of days, I promise, were taken by my sister, who is training to become a professional photographer so they are much better.

The Spirit of Christmas

Merry Christmas!


I'm sorry I  have taken so long to update but have had a really busy time.  A few weeks ago I went to the Medieval Christmas fair at Ludlow which has many more stalls this year and some really yummy food. I had my first taste of mulled cider, which was actually really tasty. Here's me on the right with my sister and our two lovable but loud dachshunds Bertie and Seth with the imposing Ludlow castle in the background.

  I also recently went to see The Nutcracker at the Birmingham Hippodrome which was incredible and left me breathless will all the exquisite sets, especially when the Christmas tree gets bigger and bigger and the toy soldiers come to life. It really helped to get me into the spirit of Christmas after spending the day writing my bibliography for my dissertation and traipsing to university through the torrential rain. This is the outfit I wore, the clothes are modern but I feel that they have a real vintage feel and evoke something of the spirit of the 1920's (hopefully). The second picture is with my sister who was very apprehensive about seeing it as she is not a fan of ballets but thankfully she really enjoyed it.

I have now finally broken up for Christmas and  have been busy decorating, which basically involved me throwing tinsel haphazardly round my room, making paper decorations whilst the dogs are trying to get my attention and eat the decorations and stop them eating through the wires for my Christmas lights.


 When it came to decorating the Christmas tree we left it quite late this year as we decided to have a real tree for the first time in years. I'd forgotten how nice they smell. Unfortunately the cats think of it as their own climbing frame for them to explore and have taken to climbing it and knocking of all the baubles whilst the dogs drink from the water in the container underneath. Poor tree!

My decorations are put to shame though by the decorations that adorn the rooms at Wightwick Manor, the National Trust property where I volunteer as a room guide. The manor has the most beautiful original  Victorian Christmas decorations. They always do such a good job decorating the rooms and one can really imagine spending Christmas day there with your family. Over Christmas there is also a lady who comes in at the weekend and plays Christmas carols on the piano. The house is truly a riot for the senses at Christmas, there are beautiful decorations for you to behold, the whole house smells of pine, cinnamon and oranges- due to the traditional Victorian decorations, and the sound of carols resonate throughout the house.The children's day nursery is my personal favourite, with its own Christmas tree, which I believe in the past has been decorated by local school children. There is also always a glass of milk and a carrot left for Santa and Rudolph.


This is a beautiful picture of the Great Parlour, it far outshines my Christmas tree, taken by a local newspaper (cameras are not allowed inside so I can't take any photos when I'm there) -

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2011/12/14/victorian-festive-magic-at-wightwick-manor/

It truly is a magnificent room all year round but at Christmas it dazzles.

I always find it funny how people react to me when I'm their, some comment on how nice I look. I had a very sweet older gentleman a while ago say it was so lovely to see a woman wearing a dress for a change. Some people gawk or laugh as if they think I am completely oblivious and have no idea how they are behaving. I have also scared a few visitors before by standing very still and staring at one of the many beautiful paintings at Wightwick, after which I realise someone has just entered the room so I turn round and give them the shock of their lives. One woman had thought I was a mannequin (I don't think most National Trust places actually utilise mannequins though?). This is the outfit I wore to volunteer a few weeks a go. The jacket is part of a beautiful 1940's suit, the dress is a 1950's summer dress which I know is not appropriate but it has such a beautiful pattern I couldn't stop myself from wearing it! Finally the necklace is a  beautiful green (my favourite colour) vintage piece. (Ignore the non vintage watch my old pearl watch  recently broke and the jacket didn't have a pocket for my pocket watch!)

Finally, I couldn't do a Christmas post without discussing my favourite Christmas film of all time, which I'm sure nearly everyone has heard of it, It's a Wonderful Life. It is the quintessential Christmas film. Not only is the film a heartwarming story about a great man, George Bailey who embodies the true spirit of charity and selflessness but the character is also played by the dashing James Stewart. Additionally, being a lover of 1940's fashion, the outfits are a feast for the eyes, my personal favourtie is this exquisite dress with its tiered ruffled skirt, which looks even more sensational in motion.

Actually when I think about I was probably more endeared to the dress as James Stewart and Donna Reed are dancing the Charleston, before they plunge into the swimming pool.


Finally I would just like to again wish you a Merry Christmas. I'm going to go carry on writing my dissertation with a glass of Asti whilst listening to the legend that is Ella Fitzgerald singing Santa Claus is coming to town.


Evalily Harlow xxxx